I have ВЈ1000 to invest, but where and in what to invest?

I know its not alot, but I have a grand that if i dont do something useful with, I will most likely end up spending on booze. So i thought I'd invest it in something. Only problem is that I dont really have a clue what Im doing. Any educated suggestions?
Additional Details
Thanks alot for all those who answered...(xcept stanley) I never expected to get that many so fast. Keep them coming, Im open to most suggestions!

If you don't have an ISA, or havn't used all of this years ISA allowance then that is the best place to invest it.

What is your attitude to risk? Unless you can cope with losing it all then I would stick it in a cash ISA (assuming you are in the UK). If you want something more risky and are prepared to invest for at least 5-7 years (preferably 10-15) you could consider equity investment.

For a beginner I would consider a collective investment such as a unit trust or investment trust. Investment trusts are companies that invest in other companies (google the Association of Investment Trusts for more information). I think they are good starter investments because they usually have lower charges than unit trusts, but are traded like ordinary shares on the stock market (so they can help you learn the ropes with respect to share trading). Unit trusts (and OEICs; open-ended investment companies) are simpler products but tend to have higher charges.

Before you buy research the investment strategy, past performance and management of the unit or investment trust. Also consider drip-feeding the ВЈ1000 into the market over time (this reduces risk by decreasing the chance that you buy at the peak of the market, though it also makes it less likely you'll buy exactly at the bottom). My main advice is avoid whatever is most popular now ... generally the popular shares and funds are expensive. My personal preference is for trusts that seek out unfashionable and undervalued investments. Good examples are British Empire Securities, RIT Capital Partners and Personal Assets. There are also unit trusts with similar strategies. If you do buy unit trusts look for a discount broker (that'll refund most of the charges) and do your own homework before you invest.

Good luck ...

What about Premium Bonds, you don't get interest but you could win ВЈ1M

A bit of a weird answer I know but as interest for savers is not very good at the moment I would invest in premium bonds. Your money's always safe and who knows you could win ВЈ1M!

You could always stick it in an online savings account at 5.5%
(HSBC currently has 6%, but I think that expires in a couple days)

The first step I always recommend is a visit to leading financial website The Motley Fool, and their investment section:
http://www.fool.co.uk/investments/investments.aspx

In particular, the article "How to profit from shares"
http://www.fool.co.uk/school/2006/sch060130.htm

http://www.everyinvestor.co.uk isn't too bad either

If / when you've caught the investing in shares bug, before spending any of your own money, start learning the ropes by using the fantasy stockmarket game @ http://www.bullbearings.co.uk

Once you've gotten confident, set up a Sharedealing account that allows you to buy & sell shares......... the SHAREBUILDER account operated by the Halifax is the most beginner friendly + charges alot less in commission fees than any other in the UK.
http://www.halifax.co.uk/sharedealing/sharebuilder.asp

While all the paperwork is being sorted out, start researching a few companies to stick your money on using the tools @ http://quote.fool.co.uk
Some I'd suggest may be good to start off looking at being
Halifax/Bank of Scotland (HBOS)
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
Admiral Insurance (ADM)
National Express (NEX)
Aquarius Platinum (AQP)
William Sinclair Holdings (SNCL)
Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG)
Cadburys (CBRY)
BHP Billiton (BLT)
Manganese Bronze (MNGS)

And perhaps picking just 2 or 3 of these for your portfolio to start off with.

Alternatively, there's an online Money Lending & Borrowing Exchange called "ZOPA" which allows you to lend your money out to people at interest rates you choose yourself:
http://www.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/affiliate/?referral=duck1979
This is where I first learn't about it:
http://www.fool.co.uk/news/comment/2006/c060406d.htm
http://www.fool.co.uk/news/your-money/current-accounts/2006/10/24/better-than-banks-and-building-societies.aspx

An ISA is the 2nd of Gordon Brown's 2 best ideas since becoming Chancellor - a means of saving money Tax free.
http://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/taxfreesavings.asp

So, if you want to diversify, perhaps stick half in an ISA & half on the stockmarket.

if you are in the UK then in my opinion for the long term (5+ years) the best thing for you to do is to invest the money in:

The Fidelity moneybuilder UK Index fund within a stocks and shares ("equity") mini ISA, applying over the internet to get it at the cheapest price.

Step-by-step explanation follows:

If you are investing for the long term (5, 10, 15 years etc) and you are SURE you will not need to access the cash before then, then the best bet is shares because over the past 100 years or so, for any reasonably long time period, shares have consistently given better profits than any other investment.

Do not do this if you may need the cash before then, because the market may be "down" at the particular time you need the money, so you will be forced to sell the shares at a "bad price" for you (this is the "risk" that people are afraid of with shares).

Over time these shares pay out dividends (cash payments to you) that you can either have as income or re-invest (better option, because of the "miracle" of compound interest, whereby your dividends pay for more shares which earn even more dividends...) Also the price goes up, generally speaking, with the occaisional drop.

If you don't know anything about shares then it is best to choose to put the money into a fund (lots of different comapny shares) which is managed by an expert who buys the shares for you (and thousands of other people). You get your own "units" in the fund which you can buy or sell.

There are however, two types of funds - active funds and passive funds.

Managers of passive funds ("index trackers") buy shares in companies that are listed on a stock exchange index(e.g. FTSE in UK, or Dow Jones, NasDaq etc in the USA).

These are the companies behind the household names of products and services in a country. The managers are basically trying to hold a smaller version of the entire "index" and the fund (including your part of it) benefits from the profits from the various companies.

Managers of active funds try to "beat the market" or "beat the index" by picking certain companies and not others to buy shares in. But the simple fact is the majority of them do not actually do this over any length of time!

So passive funds are better than actively managed funds. And they usually charge less as well.

So you want a passive fund.

What matters now is the charges that are applied. Over time even small differences in charges matter, because it means less profits to take as income or to re-invest.

the Fidelity moneybuilder UK Index fund has charges of just 0.3% and is probably why Fidelity was voted best index tracker provider by Investors Chronicle in 2006. Other tracker funds charge 0.5, 1.0% or even more. So if you make 8% profit in a year, you get to keep 7.7% with the fund I recommend, but only 7.5% or 7% with other funds. Over time the differences add up due to compound interest.

Now you know what fund you need, you need to know that you should buy it as part of your ISA allowance - Individual Savings Account.

You can have one ISA a year. Specify that you are buying into the fund as your "stocks and shares mini ISA." (Also known as an equity mini ISA.) That way you can invest in "cash" bank or building society deposit acoount as well.

Do all this by going to the internet at http://www.fidelity.co.uk/direct/research/fidelitysfunds/fidelity_solutions/moneybuilder-funds.html

and look for the link "Moneybuilder UK index." It is easy to set up - I think from memory you fill in a form and print it out and send it off to them. It is convenient, quick and I think cheaper than setting it up over the phone.

Just my opinion. You may of course want to stick it in a high-interest cash mini ISA....

Try DNDN. It's a drug co. that is coming out with a cancer drug on May 15. Do your own DD.

try www.ny-stock.com

you have lot of money to invest! you have to carefully with your choice of investing, i don't know what the best investing already thrusted because its all about the risk, if you choose wrong way you get lose on it.
but i suggest you this: maybe you interest, they had minimum investment (0$-1$) it mean you can test it with low before you make a decision (no high risk right)
http://riseprofit.com/?ref=locjan

Put it in an ISA. Quickly before 5 April so it is using some of this year's allowance...

you give it all to me? ^_^

Don't knock it. ВЈ1000 is a good start for quite a lot of things.

If you save it and manage to get another three or four of them, you have enough *IF* you REALLY do some homework, to get a buy2let property set up.

There ARE ways (legally) to get 100% Buy to let mortgages. You do NOT need to be able to prove an income either with a buy2 let mortgage - just need to make sure the rental estimates are realistic.

I am not saying you should invest in property (though you could do far worse), I am just saying that ВЈ1000 is a very healthy start to getting enough money to start building a property portfolio.

Mark

Get in touch with me and i will help you buy a property in London with only half of the money.. trust me,i am in property business and ive helped loads of people...

poor sod, but not as bad as stanley ...... he's lost it

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